Artists, Patrons, and Sitters
Hiring an artist was one of the first steps in making a portrait. Sometimes we have the contract between the artist and patron (the person paying the artist), but often that document is lost.
When the artist was painting the portrait, the person being painted had to sit very still, so the artist could do a good job. That is why the person in a portrait is called the sitter.
After the painting was finished, the patron might keep the portrait, or they might give it to somebody as a gift. They could hang it in their home, or they could display it someplace where lots of people could see it.
We know this portrait was painted by Italian artist Francesco Bonsignori in 1487 because of his signature.
However, there are many things we do not know about the portrait. The sitter was probably a Venetian senator named Giovanni Cappello, but we do not know who commissioned his portrait, or why.
Maybe he was a father, and his children wanted his picture. Maybe it was painted to celebrate when he became a senator.